California: HSLDA Defending Family Threatened with Reduction of Services

Mrs. B withdrew her son from public school and filed her affidavit as a private school in accordance with California law. However, she is now being threatened with substantial monetary loss due to her exercise of her constitutional right to home school.

Ventura County has threatened to reduce the amount of Mrs. B’s Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), saying that her son is not enrolled “in school,” even though Mrs. B is in compliance with the private school law of California. The county apparently is taking the current position of the California Department of Education: that parents teaching their children at home must be California certified teachers.

Mrs. B is appealing the reduction in her benefits. An administrative hearing is scheduled for August 1. Because HSLDA believes that home schoolers should not be punished by the government for exercising their constitutional right to home school, and because a bad decision in this case could affect home schoolers throughout the state, attorneys Mike Smith and David Gordon will be representing her.